They took on the Western Conference leaders, the hottest team in the American Hockey League. And it was 3-2 in the final moments, Rockford desperately trying to tie the Abbotsford Heat.

An empty-net goal made it a 4-2 outcome on the score sheet. The ‘Hogs didn’t feel it measured the distance between the two clubs.

“I’d like to think we’re just as good as they are,” said Rockford winger Drew LeBlanc. “I think we went with them toe-to-toe. It was an evenly matched game.

“I’m sure when we dig into the film we’ll see a lot of positives to build on.”

The Heat (15-5-0-1, 31 points) have won 11 of their last 12 games, while Rockford dropped to 9-9-1-0, 19 points. The ’Hogs held a 30-28 shots on goal edge.

“I thought we played a pretty good game for the most part,” said Rockford head coach Ted Dent. “We played a good first, other than them getting a power-play goal. It was just a shot tip Simpsy (goalie Kent Simpson) didn’t have much of a chance at.”

Abbotsford took command 2-0 and later 3-1. It was the 14th time the opposition has tallied first, and the 13th game in which Rockford has trailed by two goals or more.

“We’ve got to get ourselves out of these holes,” LeBlanc said. “It seems like every game, night after night, were down one, down two. And the bounces didn’t go our way again. It was a tough one.”

If there was one play that stood out, it was Michael Ferland splitting two ’Hogs defenders. He then skated in all alone on Simpson, deking him once and sliding a back-hander into the net to restore Abbotsford’s two-goal margin to 3-1 at 6:59 of the third.

Svedberg cut it to 3-2 at 11:33. But Rockford couldn’t draw even and eventually allowed an empty-netter at 19:57.

The IceHogs, as they normally do when falling behind 2-0, notched the next goal. LeBlanc got his first goal in nine games just 22 seconds into a power play.

Ben Hanowski (14:33) made it 1-0 in the first on a power play, and Paul Byron upped it to 2-0 at 1:36 of the second.

Notes: With former ’Hog Bryan Bickell injured, the Blackhawks recalled forward Jeremy Morin. … ’Hogs forward Brad Winchester played his 250th AHL game, while defenseman Blake Kessel played his 125th professional game. … Abbotsford and Rockford will meet three more times this season after their initial confrontation Wednesday.